Costa Concordia: cruise ship captain distracted by his guests on the bridge

The captain of the Costa Concordia was distracted by guests he had invited onto the bridge in the crucial moments before his cruise liner rammed into rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio, one of the ship's senior officers has claimed.

Silvia Coronica, the vessel's third officer, also told investigators that Francesco Schettino panicked in the aftermath of the crash, rushing "from one part of the bridge to the other".

The fresh evidence emerged as the death toll from the disaster rose to 15 following the discovery of two more bodies, both believed to be women, from the submerged fourth deck of the stricken ship.

Mr Schettino is under house arrest and faces charges of causing a shipwreck, abandoning ship and multiple counts of manslaughter after crashing his 1,000ft vessel into a rocky shoal which was clearly marked on nautical charts and even tourist maps.

It took him more than an hour to give the order to abandon ship after the initial collision, as terrified passengers jostled for lifeboats or jumped into the sea.

In the 10 minutes before the collision, he was seem chatting on the bridge with one of the ship's pursers and its head waiter, who had been asked up to the bridge to watch the liner perform a nautical 'fly-by' past his home island.

"The people who came up to the bridge with Schettino were disturbing the ship's navigation," Ms Coronica told investigators.

"The maitre d'hotel was chatting, disturbing the steering, with a consequent impact on concentration."

The ship was travelling at 15 knots as it steamed to within 150 yards of Giglio's coast – too fast for such a delicate operation, the officer added.

The evidence given to investigating judges also revealed scenes of panic down in the engine room, as water began to gush in through the hole torn by a huge lump of granite that was broken off from by the force of the impact.

"Descending down a stairway into deck B, I opened the door and I saw the tear in the hull and the water that was coming in. In the space of two minutes it was completely flooded," said Alberto Fiorito, the engine room's duty officer. "I opened the door to the main electrical room but there was already nearly two metres of water."

Salvage workers were finally given the go-ahead to start extracting the half a million gallons of oil inside the crippled ship, with the operation expected to start on Tuesday.

The luxury liner is stable and there is no risk for now that it will become dislodged by sea swells and slide to a greater depth, officials said.

Franco Gabrielli, who is in charge of the massive search and salvage operation, said a scientific committee had determined that it is possible to continue searching for bodies while at the same time starting the fuel extraction operation.

The 2,400 tonnes of heavy oil and diesel are to be pumped out by a Dutch salvage firm, Smit, which has been ready to start the operation for days.

Mr Gabrielli, the head of Italy's respected Civil Protection Authority, said the number of missing could be as high as 24 or 25.

Ennio Aquilino, a spokesman for the Italian fire service, said his men faced increasingly unsanitary conditions as they searched the parts of the ship which remain above water.

The huge quantities of food that the vessel was carrying – it was at the start of a week-long Mediterranean cruise and had on board more than 4,000 passengers and crew – was rotting and creating a terrible smell.

Mr Aquilino likened the situation to going on holiday and turning off a fridge full of food, only on a giant scale.

Bruno Leporatti said that while his client accepted some responsibility for the accident, "third parties" were also involved and the investigation should be widened.

Italian authorities are searching for the captain's personal computer, amid reports that it was taken away by a mystery blonde woman in the hours after the disaster.

He reportedly had time to retrieve the laptop from his cabin and bring it ashore, despite telling investigators last week that conditions on board were so chaotic that he accidentally "tripped" and was pitched into a life boat.

After reaching Giglio's rocky shore in the early hours of Saturday, Jan 14, he took a taxi to the Hotel Bahamas, the only hotel that was open.

The owners said the captain was holding a red plastic bag containing a rectangular white object which resembled a laptop case.

He was being interviewed by an Italian television network when a smartly-dressed middle-aged blonde woman employed by Costa Cruises swept into the lobby, ordered him not to do any more interviews, and whisked him away.

When he was interviewed by police in the nearby town of Orbetello several hours later, the computer was no longer with him.

"The captain wanted to go off and change into some dry socks," said Paolo Fanciulli, 45, the owner of the Hotel Bahamas.

"He asked me if I could keep an eye on his bag. Italian journalists were trying to interview him. Suddenly a blonde woman, who I guessed was a lawyer from what she said, came into the lobby and said: "No interviews. She took him by the arm and led him away. It all happened in about four or five seconds."

A short time later Capt Schettino was arrested on the island and taken to a police station in Orbetello on the mainland. Police records show that by that time he had only his mobile phone in his possession.

Costa Cruises denied that its employee had obtained the laptop. "After contacting the person involved, Costa Cruises categorically denies that it has received anything at all from Capt Schettino," the company said in a statement.